Whatever Happens
by Kelenloth
Summary: "Rose… I haven't got much time. It's spreading. I can feel it. I-I can't stop it. Whatever happens, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Don't… Don't let me hurt you. Now run. RUN!" – A short 10/Rose action/angst/adventure. Hopefully scary. T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

"See, good as new!" The Doctor called out happily, slapping a hand on his upper right arm where he had just healed a minor wound.

"Good." Rose smiled warmly, placing her hand over the place where the cut had been. The TARDIS sickbay was so much better than a normal hospital. No need for bandages when you could simply close the skin back up.

"Although…" The Doctor continued as he shouldered his shirt back on fully, moving Rose's hand out of the way and re-adjusting his sleeve. There was a small hole in the white fabric surrounded by minimal traces of blood. He picked up his brown suit jacket and found a similar hole and stains. "Hmph. I quite liked that suit." He said. Rose took it from him and looked over the sleeve.

"We can mend it." She said. "I'm just glad you're alright."

The Doctor smiled at her, glad to have someone that cared for him. He stood up from his seat on the table and pulled Rose into a hug. "I'm always alright." He told her, wrapping his arms about her shoulders protectively as she smiled into his shoulder and hugged him back. He was alright because he had her. Nothing that a tiny cut like this could ever take away.

He was not quite sure what he had run into, but it was probably one of those evil-looking spikey plants in the dark blue rainforest they had just escaped. It had been quite an adventure, and neither he nor Rose were completely dry from their time in the deluge of rain. Neither of them cared how wet they were as they embraced each other.

"So what now?" He pulled away with a grin, slipping his hand into her own and leading them out into the hall. Rose hung his jacket over her shoulder.

"Let's go somewhere sunny." She said, running her free hand through her wet hair.

"How about Hawaii!" The Doctor said "The state _or_ the planet! Oh! Or Arasand – that's a star ship. The whole thing is one big swimming pool, orbiting a white dwarf so that it's perfectly sunny all day long!" The Doctor grinned, but Rose grinned wider. She loved watching him like this. He was such a child. "Or we could go to – oh! The shining city of Aethra. It's a city _on_ the sun! Not earth's sun but _a_ sun. You can stand on the sun itself! Isn't that crazy?"

"You pick." She stopped him at last, tossing his damp jacket into his hands. "I'm gonna go change. You should too." She poked him playfully and then turned back towards the TARDIS wardrobe. The Doctor smiled and started off towards his own room. The city of Aethra sounded like a great idea. He absent mindedly rubbed his arm. His scratch was starting to sting. He paid it little heed as he went and changed quickly then met Rose back in the console room.

She laughed as he came in. He looked exactly the same as he did before, only dryer and without a hole in his sleeve. Sometimes she wondered how many of the exact same suit the man could possibly own. "I see you've changed?" She said.

"And you." The Doctor nodded. Rose now wore a dry short-sleeved light purple t-shirt and a pair of denim shorts along with her white trainers. She smiled as she turned to him and slipped on a pair of dark sunglasses.

"Here comes the sun!" She said happily, humming the Beatles tune. She knew that the Doctor would have picked the city on the sun – if for nothing else than because it was clearly the 'coolest' of the three. She completely agreed.

The Doctor laughed and pulled out his own glasses. He next reached for his sonic screwdriver. He pointed the tool as his glasses to darken them, but right as he was about to push the button the sonic fell from his hand.

"Doctor?" Rose questioned as the screwdriver clanked to the floor. It was not like the Doctor to drop his favorite tool. His brow furrowed as he looked at his right hand. He opened and closed it several times, examining it. It all seemed fine. He did not know what made him drop the sonic. He bent down to pick it up, but just as he reached it his hand rebelled again. His fingers would not close around the tool. Tightening his brow even further in dismay, the Doctor looked at his hand again. This time he could not make it close.

"What?" He whispered in dismay. He did not want to frighten Rose, but this was not good. He picked up the sonic with his left hand without any trouble.

"Doctor? You alright?" Rose asked as he straightened back up, still staring at his right hand.

"I dunno…" He said absent mindedly. His hand was numb. He couldn't feel it. He tried again to close his fingers into a fist. Nothing happened. He pocketed his sonic and glasses and pressed his left hand to where the cut had been. It had stopped stinging, but he could feel the numbness now creeping up his arm. This was bad.

Rose took her glasses off as she watched the Doctor in concern. She did not like the look in his eye: That look like he did not know what was going on. It never meant anything good. She gently placed her hand on his where it rested on his arm. He looked up at her seriously as she looked down at his troubled right hand. He followed her gaze down to it and found it closed in a tight fist.

The Doctor inhaled sharply, his eyes widening, and he grabbed his wrist quickly, knocking Rose's hand off of his own. "I didn't do that." He told her, gripping his own wrist in a vice-like hold and staring at his hand as if it were a monster.

"What?" Rose recoiled slightly from the look of fear in his eyes. His rogue hand sprang open and the Doctor's eyes widened with it. Then it closed back into a tight fist once more.

"I'm not doing that!" He told her emphatically as his hand opened and closed a few more times, his wrist still trapped in the tightening grip of his left hand. "Rose get the sonic out of my pocket." He instructed. He felt as if letting go for even a moment might set whatever it was free. Rose carefully reached around his arm and pulled his screwdriver out of his chest pocket. "Scan my hand." He told her. Rose held the buzzing tool over his hand for a moment and then extended the shaft. "Let me see." She held the glowing blue read out – if it was a read out, she thought it was mostly telepathic – up for him to see.

The Doctors eyes widened in sheer and utter panic.

"What is it?" Rose asked in sudden fear.

"Handcuffs." The Doctor told her quickly. "I need handcuffs!" He demanded, gripping his hand even tighter, he held it away from the rest of his body as if it carried some type of disease.

"Doctor what did-"

"Please!" The Doctor stopped her with a desperate cry. "I need handcuffs. Now!"

Rose was taken aback by the fear in his voice. She nodded and ran out of the room. She did not know where she might find any handcuffs in the TARDIS, but she set off nonetheless.

"Look in the storage drawers!" The Doctor shouted after her as she sprinted down the hall. "First door on the left on the second hall down!"

Rose burst through the door he had indicated into a room simply full of drawers. She would have cursed, but instead found herself mentally asking for the TARDIS's help as she frantically pulled the first drawer open. A hundred different knick-knacks and thing-a-ma-bobs rolled forward with the drawer as she threw it open, but handcuffs were not among them. She pulled open another and found the same. Just as she slammed a third drawer shut another drawer opened as if in reaction. She rifled through its contents and finally found what she had come for. She grabbed the police-looking cuffs and ran back down the hall, shouting a mental '_Thanks!_' to the TARDIS as she ran.

She came back to find the Doctor on his knees. His right hand had found a vice-like grip around his own throat and was slowly strangling him into unconsciousness. His left hand gripped and clawed at it until his knuckles were white, but it was in vain. His face was flush and his ears pounded, his vision wavering. Even with his respiratory bypass system, his hand's grip might kill him soon.

"Doctor!" Rose cried out as she ran to him and grabbed his wrist, trying to pull it away. His eyes gestured quickly down to the cuffs in her hand and she at once locked one of them onto his rebel arm, yanking the chain sharply away. She at last broke its grasp and the Doctor gasped for air. Rose screamed as the Doctor's hand reached out to grab her own wrist.

"Chain me down." The Doctor coughed. Rose quickly yanked his chained arm towards the base of the console and clasped the other cuff there, then scrambled out his reach. The Doctor lay down on the TARDIS floor, still gasping for breath. His arm tugged against its chains.

"Rose." He desperately called her over with his free hand. She took it in both of her own and knelt beside him, her eyes full of deep-seated fear. "I haven't got much time." He told her, gripping her hand as tightly as he ever had. Rose bit her lip and held her breath. Those were words she never wanted to hear. "This thing, it's a Vionyfir." He said quickly, as if every moment might be his last. "It's a living being made of ionic particles. They're parasites, but more than that they take control. It must have been on whatever scratched me. It's in my arm, but it's spreading." The Doctor swallowed and tried to take a deep breath, but panic was obvious in his voice. Rose bit her lip and could not say a word as he continued. "It's physically manipulating my nervous system – controlling my muscles. I can feel it. It's spreading through my nerves up into my shoulder now. If it gets to my spinal cord…"

"What do I do?" Rose stopped him. She gripped his free hand tightly and placed her other hand gently upon his face, stoking his cheek with her thumb, trying to offer whatever comfort she could. He trembled beneath her touch and his eyes caught her own.

"Run." He ordered. Pure terror filled his eyes. "_AAH_!" He cried out, his entire body convulsing at once. Blinding pain shot up from his back, trailing all the way down into his legs. For a moment every nerve in his back and lower body cried out in piercing agony. Then the pain faded, only to be replaced by an even more frightening sensation. His body went numb. He could not feel his legs. He could not move them.

"Rose." He gripped her hand desperately. "Whatever happens, I'm sorry." He whispered, fighting back tears from much more than physical pain. "I'm so sorry…"

"You're gonna be alright." She told him, hot tears filling her own eyes, but he shook his head.

"It's taking hold." He told her ominously. "I can try to fight it off, but once it gets to my brain…"

"How do I stop it?" Rose asked determinedly. She knew she did not have much time.

"I don't know." He said bluntly. "Please, Rose, find out." He begged "And I'm sorry… Don't… Don't let me hurt you." His voice trembled in fear. He timidly yet desperately raised their conjoined hands to his lips and pressed a firm kiss against her knuckles, just in case it was the last time that he ever could. More than anything else in the world, he never wanted to hurt her. But he could feel it now, fighting for control. "Take the sonic, don't let me have it whatever you do. Quick, get the psychic paper out of my jacket pocket."

Rose pressed her hand into his inner pocket, farther down that normal sized pockets would allow, and pulled out the small black wallet. One of the Doctor's legs moved into a bent position against his own volition.

"Take that and run. I can't stop it." He released her hand at last.

"Doctor-" Rose took his face in her hands.

"Run!" The Doctor ordered desperately, shoving her away with his free hand before it, too, was claimed by the Vionyfir. "Find out… how to stop it… Don't let me…" He panted. He grit his teeth as sharp, paralyzing pain pierced straight through his temple. It felt as if his brain was about to explode. "I'm sorr-_AH_!" The Doctor's voice stopped with a choked out scream. Suddenly, he went silent. His eyes closed. His head fell limp to the ground. His body was motionless.

"D-Doctor?" Rose bent carefully over him.

The Doctor's eyes flew open. Rose screamed and jumped back as his free hand grabbed her own. She wrenched herself from his grasp and scrambled to her feet. The Doctor – or the beast inside of him - tried to follow her up but was stopped by its chained hand. It looked back to the weak handcuffs and at once set about breaking them. Rose looked down to the psychic paper in her hands. It displayed in large letters its message: '**RUN!**'

Rose ran. Behind her an animal shout of effort was ripped from the Doctor's throat as the Vionyfir pulled with inhuman strength against its bonds. It did not care if the Doctor was injured during his struggle, it did not feel the pain but only transferred it. The Doctor mentally screamed as his mind struggled against the invading force that took over his body and brain. It did not need to possess all of him, just the parts that controlled his movements. It commandeered his senses but let the messages pass. The Doctor was completely aware the entire time; it did not seek to press him out. But he could do nothing to stop it.

His wrist began to bleed as the monster yanked against its bonds, and with one last shout he was free. _No_. The Doctor's mind screamed. He did not want to be free. His body shakily stood to its feet. He could feel it testing out his muscles, figuring out how to best move. He took a careful step, moving like a robot, nearly one muscle at a time. But soon he was moving normally, and then he began to pick up speed. The Vionyfir had figured out his controls. The Doctor could only watch from behind his own eyes as the beast set out in pursuit of Rose.

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><p>(This story is 4 chapters in length, the next is to be posted on Sunday evening. Thank you so much for reading!)<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Rose ran as hard and as fast and as far as she could. She flew down countless corridors, locking each door behind her with the sonic screwdriver. Every time she did she glanced down and the psychic paper in her hand. It still displayed the Doctor's last message: Run.

Each time she saw it she convinced herself that she could run a little farther. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breath came in hungry gasps. Her sides ached and her legs grew quickly sore. But then she heard him, racing down the hall behind her. How had he broken through? Rose turned and ran through the next room. She did not even know where she was anymore. She had never been in this part of the TARDIS, and she did not even know where to start looking for a way to defeat the Vionyfir. She mentally called out to the TARDIS once more, hoping that the ship could show her the way.

The Doctor's whole body slammed against the door behind her. Rose cried out once more and pushed herself to keep going. She could not keep this up forever, no matter how big the TARDIS was. She would tire eventually and she knew that he would not. The hungry, animal look in his eye haunted her, and she knew that the Doctor's normal physical limitations could not stop it. She needed a place to hide.

Rose stumbled back into the hallway and ran on. She could hear him behind her; his converse shoes beating against the metal floor, faster and faster. She burst blindly through one of the doors in front of her and stopped with a gasp as she released where she was. She must have doubled back because she found herself in the console room once more; the broken, bloodied cuffs still lay on the floor. She looked to the TARDIS outer doors. She did not know where in space and time they were; the Doctor had launched them off of the rainforest planet where he had been infected. She cautiously opened the doors and found that her worst fears were true. They were floating untethered through space.

The brilliant stars and galaxies before her would have appeared breathtakingly beautiful at any other time, but right now they looked like the most hopeless, horrible thing she could ever see. She slammed the doors shut again and looked back the way she had come. There was only one way out now, and that _thing_ was sure to burst through it any moment now. She did her best to sonic the door shut, then turned back to the console room. Pulling up one of the floor grates, Rose half lowered herself under the floor before she got an idea. Hoisting herself back up, she went to the display screen.

"I need information about the Vionafer." She said aloud, doing her best to pronounce the name as the Doctor had. "Err… Vionyfir, please." She corrected, but the TARDIS had already understood her. A display screen came up searching quickly through the TARDIS records and finding a file. "In English!" Rose clarified as the Gallifreyan text appeared. The screen recalculated itself and her eyes flew over the words.

The first three paragraphs were all about the species origin and places of habitation. They had already botched that avoidance job, so Rose moved on to the next. There was no physical description, as a Vionyfir could not be clearly seen. It was an invisible yet powerful creature that lived off of others by stealing their energy. They were transferred by injection, and once one took hold of a body it would completely overpower the entire motor nervous system, Rose already knew that. They were animal-like creatures in intelligence, but once they got into a higher-level brain they could slowly adapt to use every part of its functions. The older a Vionyfir was the larger and more powerful it became. Young Vionyfir could not take over a living body and were not strong enough to push the natural nervous signals out. Rose's eyes went wide was she read the last sentence of the paragraph: 'When reproducing the Vionyfir will use its host to overpower and kill another body and then infect the dying flesh. Its young then animate the nervous system and use it to train and grow until they can overpower a living host of their own.'

In that moment the Doctor slammed himself against the door, letting out a beastly yell. Rose spun around in fear, knowing that the door would give any moment now. She threw herself under the console floor and shut the grate over her just as the Vionyfir broke its way in.

The Doctor stumbled into the room and stopped, looking around. Rose gasped and tried to hold her breath as she saw him; her Doctor. What had it done to him?

His right wrist dripped red blood from where it had broken the handcuffs off but the Vionyfir within him did not seem to care. His familiar pinstriped clothes were disheveled and she knew that they hid many dark bruises. But the Doctor's eyes were what scared her: They were empty, haunting, searching, and hungry. He looked around the room in search of her and snarled in a way that Rose hoped she would never, ever see her Doctor snarl again. He stood at the ready; knees bent and arms loose at his sides. His hands slowly gripped and released over and over again, as the Vionyfir had to constantly reaffirm its control over him. The Doctor was fighting back.

He walked slowly to the console, looking around as if Rose would jump out at him from one of the pillars that surrounded it. He stopped by the read-out screen, but paid it little heed. He could see the text but could not read or make sense of it. Rose hoped that maybe the Doctor within him still could. She did not have time to finish reading or find the answers she sought, and now she might never get a chance.

Rose barely dared to breathe as the Doctor stepped right over her. She hid deep in the shadows of the ship's inner workings and wished that her heart would stop pounding so loud. The Vionyfir took a few steps towards the TARDIS door and stopped again. The Doctor sniffed the air sharply as a wolf might sniff for its pray. Rose bit her lip. She risked a glance down at the psychic paper once more. It still read 'RUN'.

Pressing itself against the outer door the Doctor-monster sniffed once more as if it could sense that Rose had been here. The Doctor's hands closed around the door handles and pulled both open quickly as if Rose might be hiding on the other side. Rose took her chance.

In the moment that the Doctor stood staring out into the stars Rose threw open the hatch and jumped back up onto the floor, running full speed down the hallways once more. The Doctor turned after her with a start and followed in a flash. He was an extremely good runner normally, and now that his body did not factor in any pain that it caused him his speed was inhuman and deadly. Inside the Doctor wanted to cry out in effort with each exertion, but his body did not allow him. He wanted to cry and scream in protest, but he could not. He called out the only way he could; with his mind. He called to the TARDIS to help Rose stop him, and he called to Rose through the psychic paper.

As she burst into what appeared to be a room reserved only for maps and sonic-ed the door shut, Rose checked the paper again. The message had changed. '_Electricity_' it read. Rose gasped as she found one scrap of hope that remained. The Doctor had seen the read-out and found the way to stop the Vionyfir. Whatever it was, in needed electricity. Rose was sure that the TARDIS had a very large if not endless supply of not only this but countless other power sources. She just did not know where to find any. She looked around and found spread on the table a map of the TARDIS itself. Her eyes quickly searched it for any mention of electricity or anything that might be related to it. She heard the Doctor at the door.

This time he did not throw himself at the door. He knelt down and began to unlock it with implements it had found in the Doctor's pockets. Even without his sonic, the Doctor knew how to unlock doors of all kinds, especially those on the TARDIS, just in case. The Vionyfir had found those memories in his head, it was using him. It was growing smarter.

The tense silence that filled the room next was unnerving. Rose's heart raced as she frantically looked over the gigantic map of the seemingly endless ship. The Doctor could open the door at any moment now. It had to be in here somewhere. She flipped over another page of the map and kept looking. The fiddling with the door continued.

There! At last Rose saw something; a small room labeled 'charging station'. She hoped that electricity would be one of the things that the Doctor had charged. Before she could get through the next door, the door behind her burst open. The Doctor was upon her in a flash. He grabbed her arm roughly and pulled her violently back to him. A wicked smile came upon his face as she screamed "Let me go!" and try to pull herself away. His hands gripped her arms so hard that she was sure they were going to bruise.

"Doctor!" She cried in fear as his hand drew back to strike her. She knew that the Doctor could not stop it, but it was his name that rose to her lips as she cried for a savior, and it always would be. She called out for him just as she had so many times before. But this time, he could not save her.

The Doctor's hearts cringed in sorrow and horror as he heard her cry, but could not answer. Deep within he cried out in fear as he watched what happened next, helpless to stop it. The Doctor's fist backhanded Rose hard across the face, sending her sprawling backwards to where she hit the wall and slumped to the floor. His strong hands grabbed her quickly once more and Rose called her Doctor's name in desperate protest again as his hand moved to the back of her head, his fingers entwining roughly in her hair.

'_No!_' the Doctor tried to shout, but no sound escaped his lips. He slammed her head violently against the table and then pulled her brutally into a standing position once more. Rose moaned as blood flowed freely from her nose. Her head spun in pain, but she fought on. She grabbed his arms and tried to break free, kicking and screaming against the specter of the man that she loved as he tried to wrestle her to her knees. She shouted his name once more as she finally landed a good blow, knocking the Doctor's feet out from under him. His grip weakened for half a moment, and Rose stole away.

"No!" The Doctor-beast uttered its first word as it reached out and caught Rose by the ankle, tripping her. She lashed out as she fell to the ground, kicking him hard in the face, before scrambling out of the door. Tears streamed from her eyes for the pain she had caused her Doctor – she knew that he could feel it as she fought fiercely against him. She threw the door closed behind her and locked it, but she knew it could not hold him. She had to get to the charging station. As she ran she glanced down at the psychic paper once more. The message had changed yet again.

'_I'm sorry'_ it read simply. And Rose knew he was. Each time she saw him she had to remind herself again that he was not the Doctor, no matter what he looked like. The Doctor would never hurt her. But it still frightened her more than she could say to watch this ever more human or ever more Time Lord beast attack her in his familiar and trusted form. The hands that she used to hold now struck her, the man she once embraced now frightened her more than anything. He was going to kill her. She could not let him. Not merely for her own sake, but because she knew that the Doctor could never live with himself if she died. He would hold himself responsible, even if she did not. She could not, not with that thing controlling him. Because the minute she thought him responsible then she could never look at him the same way again. And she did not want that.

She wished more than anything that she could send the Doctor's message back with an apology of her own. But instead she ran on, pushing herself now towards a goal that lay three hallways, two staircases and far too many doors away.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: HUGE apology for the lateness of this update! I am SO SORRY. would NOT let me log in ALL DAY. I posted this ASAP once it let me, but I was blocked out for a while. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry! Anyway, on with the tale! (God willing, the next part WILL be posted Sunday - perhaps I'll do it in the morning if I have time, to make up for this.)

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><p>The Doctor wanted to scream: He wanted to kick and scream and cry and beg and fight and even die if it would only stop this madness. If only it would stop him from hurting Rose. His body lifted itself from the floor against his will and began working to follow her through the locked door. She was slowing him down, but the Doctor knew that it could not last forever. His nose now dripped a slow stream of crimson, as did his wrist. He was losing blood, but the Vionyfir did not care. Even if he died it would not release his body, and it would not stop pursuing its blood-lust for Rose.<p>

It was creeping ever farther into his mind now, he could feel it. It was beginning to understand speech and logic because he did. Soon it might be able to talk. Trapped in his own skin, the Doctor tried once more to escape it, using all of his Time Lord power to re-instate his will over his own body. The Vionyfir sensed his resistance. It sent a pulse of agonizing pain throughout his entire being. The Doctor cried out in pain and this time the noise reached the air. The Vionyfir controlled his nervous system; it could make him not only do but _feel_ whatever it wanted. And now that it was smart enough to feel him resisting, it wanted him to feel pain. He rebelled all the stronger, and it punished him all the harder. His left heart clenched as if going into cardiac arrest, and the message was clear; the Vionyfir could kill the Doctor if it so chose. The Doctor gasped as it released its hold on his heart and was forced to give in, at least for now. His body stood to its feet as he opened the door and set off against his will once more.

Even in his painful struggle, the Doctor noticed one sign of hope. The Vionyfir functioned as if he was a human being: It only attacked his left heart, and had not invaded the telepathic functions of his brain. But it was a learning creature. He knew it would not be long before it figured its mistake out and took complete hold. Rose had to stop him before then.

Before him Rose flew down yet another spiral staircase – it seemed to be one of hundreds scattered around the TARDIS. She had not passed through nearly enough doors since their last encounter and she felt bare and unprotected from his attacks. She wiped the blood from her face from where he had hit her. A sharp red spot had formed on her cheekbone and her nose was bruised and bleeding. She heard the Doctor shout behind her; this time it seemed to be a shout of pain. Her heart clenched in sympathetic agony at his cries, but something in her said that this meant that the Doctor was fighting back harder than ever before.

She ran on, trying to remember the path to the charging room that she had seen on the map. Was it a left turn or a right turn at the bottom of the stairs? Trusting her instinct, she flew down the left hall and raced to the third door down. She pulled the portal open and found a workshop full of old odds and ends of alien scrap metal and other contraptions that the Doctor had never taken the time to fix. She hoped that this meant that the charging station was nearby as she shut the door behind her and crossed quickly to the other side.

Behind her, the Doctor leapt over the stair railing, bypassing the spiral steps and landing with a hard impact that nearly broke his right ankle. The Vionyfir did not stop because of the pain; it forced him to run on. He heard a door shut to his left and sprinted after her, sniffing her out and breaking ever faster through the locked doors.

The Doctor looked around the room and knew where they were going. He only hoped that beast inside of him knew not. The Vionyfir forced him on without stopping, crashing into what the Doctor knew was the last door. 'CHARGING STATION' it read in large, red letters. He could hear Rose inside the room. He knew that it was a dead-end.

"Come on, come on!" Rose muttered as she sorted through the many different wires and devices that filled the room. There were countless power supplies here from just as many planets, but she only needed one. And then she had to figure out how to use it. She heard him come to the final door and a surge of panic leapt in her heart. At last she came to something marked 'Electricity'. She unplugged from the wall a strange blue capsule clearly marked 'DANGER' and examined it. It looked like a large blue battery with two terminals on the same end. But they looked different from anything she had ever seen. There was a white button on the side simply marked 'on'. She pressed it.

Rose jumped back in surprise as a bright blue arc of electricity jumped between the two terminals and shot out like a beam from where they met. Luckily she had been pointing it away from herself. It was obviously meant to be plugged into something very high powered and not turned on until it was secure, but in the free air the power shot out the end like hand-held lightening.

She looked up to where the flash had hit the wall. A dark burn mark stained the coral-like wall there. Rose swallowed hard.

The Doctor was at the door. She could hear him. Rose looked frantically for any way out, but she knew from the map that this small room was a dead end. She backed up into the corner farthest from the door. She had the electricity, but she was scared of what came next.

The door crashed open and the Doctor stepped in and slammed it behind him. The room was cool and relatively dark. His eyes searched the shadows dangerously. Rose bit her lip. She checked the psychic paper one last time. '_I'm sorry_' it still read. But even as she looked at it, the words changed.

The Doctor's eyes glanced around the dark room. Behind the Vionyfir's influence, the Doctor noticed the one plug that was missing from the wall: The blue electric capacitor. Rose had found it. '_Yes!_' His mind cheered, though at the same time reeled from the thought. He knew it was his only hope of defeating the Vionyfir and his only hope of saving Rose, but something in him hesitated. Regardless, he sent a message to the psychic paper and prayed that it would find her before the Vionyfir could.

Rose did her best not to gasp as she watched the message appear. It was short, blunt, and to the point. '_Shoot me_.' it ordered. Rose stole a glance back to the dark burn mark on the wall. She looked next to her Doctor.

In that moment the Doctor's eyes found their target. A devilish grin came upon his face. Trapped as if in a nightmare, the Doctor tried harder than ever to resist now, ignoring the flashes of pain. Where the beast controlling him saw its weakling prey, he saw the person he loved most in the world. He stalked closer to her, casting an ominous shadow on her hiding place. Rose held her breath as his once loving hands came down to grab her. She could not bring herself to fire.

The Doctor wanted to shout and warn her, but she could not hear him. His hands quickly locked around her arms, holding her fast with greater strength than Rose ever thought the Doctor capable.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted in fear, knowing it was in vain, as the Doctor's hand flew back again and smacked her sharply across the face once more. This time he held her still to receive the beating. She moaned miserably in his grasp, gripping the electric capacitor tightly to her body. The Vionyfir seemed to take little notice of the blue capsule in her hands.

He threw a swift kick that landed his knee squarely in her stomach. Rose cried out and doubled over in pain and the Doctor tossed her out of her hiding place and onto the open ground.

The psychic paper flew from her hand and landed open on the floor. Her eyes barely caught the message that was now displayed as she turned to face her adversary once more. '**DO IT!**' the paper read.

The Doctor was mentally screaming for her to end it, to stop him. Rose scrambled away from him, but she was not fast enough. He kicked her, hard, in the ribs, sending her to the ground once more. '_Do it_!' He mentally shouted again, but Rose could not hear him.

The Doctor grabbed her roughly and dragged her to her feet. His hands held both of her wrists with unyielding force as he pressed her harshly against one of the walls with the force of his entire body. The capacitor fell from her grasp.

"I c-can't!" Rose sobbed in fright as her Doctor pinned her violently against the wall with monstrous strength. "Y-you'll die!" She cried.

'_You've got to!_' The Doctor tried to shout, or even to whisper, but neither came out. Behind him, the psychic paper reflected his message. Rose could barely make it out.

A sickening smile came upon the Doctor's face as he released her hands one at a time. His long fingers came instead to wrap tightly around her throat. Pure and utter panic rose in Rose's heart. Her hands flew to his and tried in vain to pry him away. She shoved and punched and struggled, but the monster would not give way.

'_No! Rose!_' The Doctor tried again to shout, fighting back with everything in him. He could not let this happen. He could not let her die. He could not kill her. His mind screamed for his hands to stop, sending signal after signal for his body to do anything other than what it was doing now. Even if he had to regenerate or die, anything would be better than this. But none of the signals made it through. He could feel his two-handed grip tightening around her windpipe; feel her chocking in his grasp.

"Doc-tor…" She coughed miserably. In such distress it was still the only thing that she could say. He brought her down to her knees before him, her hands still vainly pulling against his. The look in his eyes was one of savage victory, but she knew that his hearts were both breaking within. Her vision flashed and blurred as the pressure in her head mounted to intolerable heights. She somehow made out the capacitor still sitting on the floor, beside her knee now.

"I'm… sorr…" Rose gasped and dared to bring one hand away from his own, groping blindly to find her last hope of defense against the monster that possessed the man she loved. She found the capacitor and held it up, positioning the terminals at point blank range, resting on his chest. Even as she slowly suffocated, Rose's mind screamed against her. This would kill him. Her finger found the small white button as the last shreds of her consciousness struggled to hold onto to life. Her eyes somehow found the psychic paper one last time. It now only displayed one word:

'_Please_'.

Rose pressed the button and huge flash and bang filled the room. For a terrifying moment, the Doctors' hands gripped even tighter around her throat as his muscles locked up in shock, and then released as the beast let out a terrible roar. Rose gasped and shuffled away, escaping his grasp. But the Vionyfir had not been defeated. The Doctor lurched after her to grab her again, and Rose was forced to fire upon him once more. The beam caught him straight in the chest, and he fell trembling to his knees.

A terrible, gut-wrenching howl was ripped from the Doctor's throat as his entire body locked up in paralyzing electric pain. He fell forward onto his hands and knees, the Vionyfir within him still battling to retain control even as his entire nervous system was locked down by the terrible external force. The electric current was slowly taking away the Vionyfir's power, polarizing its ionic charge. But the Vionyfir had grown strong, and would not give up without a fight. If it was going to die, then it was going to take the Doctor with it. He screamed again; a desperate, terrifying, inhuman shout of agony. Rose could take it no longer. She released him from the beam's hold.

The Doctor's body did not collapse to the floor; it stayed rigid for a moment longer on his hands and knees, head bent towards the ground. "No!" He shouted, the Doctor's own voice finally ringing true as he realized that she had stopped. "No you can't stop yet!" He looked desperately up to Rose, deep terror shining in his eyes. "PLEASE-_AHH!_!" The Doctor shouted, and then was cut off. The demonic emptiness returned to his gaze.

Rose screamed as the Doctor pounced towards her with another beastly roar of rage. She closed her eyes and held down the white button once more, and the Doctor was caught again in its deadly lightening. He was knocked completely to the floor this time, flat on his back.

The creature screamed: Over and over: Deep, guttural agony that sounded as if it was ripping out his very soul; shouts so loud that they drowned out the stunning lightening that charged the room. But Rose could not let him go. Tears formed in her eyes and cascaded down her face as she heard him scream again and again: Her Doctor. She was killing him. His cries turned from shouts of beastly rage to miserable, tortured wails. Her eyes caught the psychic paper again. The text was barely legible, but its message was clear: '_Don't let go_".


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Alright, in recompense for having to wait until Friday afternoon to get chapter 3 (because of this stupid website) I am rewarding you all with chapter 4 EARLY! yay! This is the FINAL chapter, too. I do hope you like it!

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><p>Rose held the torturous white button for what seemed like an eternity. She held it through all of his hellish screams, her own agonized cries filling the air as she sobbed for the pain she was causing him. But she did not release him. For his sake, she did not let go. She had to trust the Doctor's word. She had to trust that he would survive and the Vionyfir would not. She only prayed that he might forgive her for the impossible agony that she now shot straight into his hearts.<p>

After what seemed like a lifetime the Doctors' screaming stopped. His miserable voice faded, his body still trembling helplessly against the electric shock. Every muscle in his being was locked and stretched or compressed to the breaking point, and every nerve screamed as if it were on fire.

Rose held the trigger for as long as she could, but once he lay silent and pale on the ground she could stand it no longer. With a loud sob she released him and herself collapsed to the floor.

Silence; heavy, tense, and dreadful settled upon them. The air, after having been ripped through by so many horrendous sounds and flashes of lightening, now seemed itself to resettle over their still and fallen bodies. Rose could barely move. Exhausted in every way, she sat for a moment in the terrible silence and prayed that she might not be the first to make a sound. Her heart beat louder and louder in his ears. But all she wished to hear was his. She watched him, staring long and hard at the defeated form that slumped before her on the ground. He did not move. He did not even breathe. Rose bit her lip. She had killed him.

No. No, she couldn't have. He was the Doctor. He had to be alright. She had to make sure. She slowly drew herself closer to him, dragging herself across the floor until she sat by his side. Her hand hovered above his still and lifeless form. She choked back a sob as she stared at him. Fear clenched in her heart again and she could not bring herself to touch him. Some part of her mind protested: What if the Vionyfir was not dead? What if it was waiting to grab her again? She told herself that this was why she was hesitant to stir him. But in reality it was because she was deathly afraid that he would not respond; that he would never respond again. And it would be all her fault.

She needed him. He was the Doctor and she needed him. It was not just because she was trapped alone floating through space God-knows-how-many years in her relative future. She needed him because he was him and she was her: He was her Doctor and she was his Rose. There was no way around it. She needed him to be alive because he was what she lived for. If he died, Rose was sure that she would as well.

At long last she could stand it no more. Her hand came to rest upon the Doctor's shoulder. He did not respond. His eyes did not burst open and he did not try to grab her. But neither did he moan or turn to her and smile. He simply did nothing. He lay like a dead man on the floor. Rose could not bring herself to believe it.

"D-Doctor?" She called him hoarsely, letting herself come closer now that she was sure the Vionyfir had gone away. She leaned over him with a hand on each shoulder and shook him gently. Nothing. Rose's heart clenched in panic. She could feel it now; he was not even breathing under her grasp. No. No! She almost shouted in protest. This could not be happening. The Doctor could not die! Least of all by her hand. But he had.

Rose let out a broken, desperate sob. She could not hold herself back now. She collapsed onto him, crying freely and burrowing her face into his ragged suit. Violent sobs wracked her frame, her breath coming in short, shallow gasps. She hugged his body closer and managed to open her eyes. He gaze fell on the psychic paper that lay discarded on the floor. The message had changed one last time. It read in pain-filled but beautiful letters three words: Three words that he had never before uttered, but she had always known.

'_I love you.'_

Rose's heart seemed to stop. She could not even cry anymore. She wanted to stop herself form breathing and join the Doctor in death.

But as she quieted herself down at last, staring blankly off into the darkness and wishing that it might swallow them both, Rose heard something. It was faint and unexpected, but at the same time it was as if she had heard it all along. As she lay with her ear on his chest she could have sworn she heard a faint _thump-thump_ echo in her mind. At first she had thought it was a trick of her brain. Then she thought it was the weak and vain beating of her own heart. But slowly she realized it was something much more. After a moment she finally had her wits about her enough to at least check a deluded hope. She lifted herself off of him just enough to move, and then placed her head back down, this time on the right side of his chest.

There. She heard it, louder this time. _Thump-thump_. There was no mistaking it. It was a heartbeat. A single, dying heartbeat. But it was there.

"Doctor?" Rose's voice was as weak and frail as the beat itself, but now that she had discovered it her sluggish motions became nearly frantic. "Doctor!" She called louder, as if he could hear her. She pushed herself up and looked down on him. Whatever small glimpse of hope this was, she needed it. She needed to keep it alive – to keep him alive.

Rose opened the Doctor's jacket and dug in his pockets. They were much, much larger than they looked but after a bit of searching Rose pulled out the only 'doctor' like thing that the Doctor carried; a stethoscope. She quickly put it on and hesitantly moved the cold metal to the Doctor's chest, placing it first where a human heart would sound. She heard nothing. Holding her breath she quickly moved it over to his right. _Tump-thump_. His heart was beating. He needed to breathe. Throwing the Doctor's tool down, Rose launched into action. She had never done this before, but she knew how it was supposed to work. Saying a prayer, she sat up and placed her hands over the Doctor's non-pumping heart. She pressed down hard and fast. One, two, three, four, five – she did not know how many times. The Doctor did not seem to respond. Rose bit her lip and moved next to his breathing.

The Doctor's head lay rolled limply to the side where it had fallen when he had finally been released from the dreadful lightening's hold. Rose took his face in her hands as she knelt beside him, lifting up his chin, his mouth opened. With one hand she closed his nose, and with the other she steadied them both as she bent down and touched her lips to his, breathing out hard. Out of the corner of her eye she saw his chest rise with her breath. She breathed out fully than gasped in a quick breath before filling his lungs up with air again. It looked like a miracle just to see his chest rise and fall, but she knew that it was not over. She moved back to chest compressions, counting out loud until she reached thirty, each becoming harder and more desperate. She did not know where she had heard thirty, but it seemed right. Perhaps it was the TARDIS guiding her along. She moved faster than she could believe of herself, breathing into him what she hoped was life-giving breath once more. She could not give up now. She could not let him die. Rose poured all of her effort, all of her being into saving him.

As she began to pump his chest a third time she had to fight off a wave of panicked doubt and despair as he did not respond. "Come on!" She shouted out loud, pounding his chest harder. "Come on, Doctor, please!" She unintentionally echoed his earlier cry, tears streaming down her face. "PLEASE!"

With the twenty-fifth compression of that set something changed. As her hands hovered over him for a moment, the Doctor's head fell back to the side. A little more air escaped his lips, and this time his body made a reaction; sucking in a tiny amount of air on its own. "Doctor?" Rose stopped for a moment. The Doctor exhaled a small cough.

Rapturous joy at once filled Rose's heart. She grabbed the Doctor's still limp form and pulled him close in a tight hug, pressing her ear once more to his chest. She could hear him. _Thump-thump-thump-thump_. Two hearts. Both beating. She heard him weakly inhale. Releasing him at once, Rose rolled him onto his side and the Doctor began coughing hard, wracking coughs, as if at any moment he might start coughing up blood. But he did not. Rose held him as his breathing settled, and when he was finally within grasp of some sort of control she hugged him again, calling his name in joy.

"R-Rose…" He whispered weakly, seeming only at the sound of her voice to realize that he was still alive. He did not have the strength to return her embrace. "I-I… I'm sorry…" He whispered into her ear as she pulled him close. "-'m so sorry."

"No, Doctor. I'm sorry." She said as she released him to look at his face once more. She cupped his head in her hands and smiled just to see him alive, but the Doctor frowned deeply at the red marks and bruises and the tear tracks that now marred her beautiful face. He had caused them.

Rose looked down at the Doctor; he was not much better. Blood stained his nose, lips, and chin from where she had kicked him in the face, and she knew that he would have countless other bruises from slamming into doors, among other things.

"You alright?" He asked, sounding truly frightened that she would say no.

Rose gently wiped a tear from his eyes and smiled. "Are you?" She answered. There was no hiding that they had both been hurt, but in the end it was neither of their fault. They had survived, and they were together. That was what mattered. She knew he wanted her forgiveness, and she wanted his as well. But there was nothing to forgive.

"Oh Rose…" The Doctor at last managed to lift his arms around her. He pulled her close and nestled his face into her golden hair. Rose rested atop him and pulled him up to wrap her arms about him. "Oh my sweet, brilliant Rose…" He whispered, and Rose was reminded of his last message on the psychic paper.

"I love you." She whispered into his ear. The Doctor hugged her tighter. For a moment he did not respond but merely pressed his tear-streaked, blood-stained face into the gentle crook of her neck. He kissed her softly.

"I know." He whispered. He pulled back and she sat up slightly. He brought his blood-stained right hand up to gently caress her face, his fingers lightly tracing over the marks and bruises that broke her soft, pale skin. They made him sick, but her beautiful smile shone through them and told him that everything would be alright. She was brilliant and so, so strong. He knew that she had saved him. Once again and forever, she had saved his life. He did not know where he would be without her, only that he would probably – no, definitely - be dead. In more ways than one.

He could feel the heavy bruises from where her hands had been as she pressed and pounded his heart back into action, breathing life into him once more even after the terrifying beating she had received. He was alive. He could still not quite believe it. As the lightning struck and held him and horrendous screams were wrenched from his aching throat he was sure that he was going to die. But here she was smiling over him.

She smiled at him like he was the most amazing, beautiful, and wonderful being in the world. Because to her he was. He knew, and she knew, and they had both known for so long now that she meant the exact same thing to him.

The Doctor leaned up slightly, having regained a good bit of his strength. He took her head in his hands and laid a gentle kiss on her brow. Rose knew that he loved her, even if he did not say it out loud. "Thank you." He said softly. Rose pulled him into a hug again, this time all the way up until they were both sitting up next to each other, secure in a tight embrace. The Doctor smiled. And then he laughed. And Rose could not help but laugh with him. She almost wanted to cry again of pure relief and joy.

As he released her at last they pulled back and smiled at each other and both admired the other's beautiful smile: The way the Doctor's eyes squinted in what could be only described as bliss, and Rose's tongue peeked through her teeth in laughter. Both wondered if they were put into this world for the express purpose of making the other smile. Both believed that it would be purpose enough; a grand purpose for which to live.

The Doctor pushed himself to his feet. Even after needing resuscitation, his body was amazingly fast at healing. He offered Rose and hand and then pulled her up beside him, slipping his hand into hers and entwining their fingers perfectly. Sometimes he thought that hands only existed to be held, and that arms were only meant for hugging. Rose leaned her head on his shoulder and kicked the blue capacitor out of the way. The Doctor laughed and bent down to pick up his psychic paper from the floor. It still held his message: '_I love you'_ in clear letters.

"I'll trade you." He held it out to Rose. Rose smiled and pulled his sonic screwdriver from her pocket.

"Don't you need both?" She asked as she handed him his tool.

"You keep it." The Doctor placed the psychic paper in her hands. He had not changed the message at all. "Now how about we get back to the TARDIS sickbay. I think we could both do with a bit of mending."

Rose laughed as they began their journey hand in hand to the place where this had all begun. "And then to the city of Aethra?" She asked. The Doctor shrugged.

"I thought maybe we could take a day off, rest a bit…" He said, but his huge grin spoke otherwise. He was just so happy that they were both alive.

"You?" Rose addressed him sarcastically "Pass up a chance to show me a city on the sun?"

The Doctor laughed with her. "Never." He said with a grin. "Come one, then; Allons-y!"

This was what he lived for, for so long: To see the stars and all of their wonders, to save the world, to live a life of adventure. But each day he realized a bit more that the stars did not inspire him quite as much if she was not around. He realized that _she_ was the reason he wanted to save the world, and that adventures were no fun if he did not have her hand to hold. He was beyond grateful that she could forgive him all of his faults and failures, even if they left their mark. Because he needed her. He knew how selfish that sounded, and it was times like this that he was truly afraid that he had taken it a step too far and endangered her too much. But he needed her. He needed to be part of 'them'. They both knew that. He did not just live for the adventure anymore, he lived for her. He lived for them. Living for two people sounds like a bit of a hard task, but in reality it was no burden at all; in fact it lifted all the burdens he had ever had before, as she came along beside him. Because it was not one man living life for two people, it was two people living one life together, and that made all the difference in the world.

Rose smiled up at him despite her cuts and bruises. No matter the cuts and bruises that they suffered together, as long as they suffered them together, than she knew that whatever happened they would make it through. Whatever happened, they had each other. Whatever happened, they would be alright.

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><p>AN2: I'd just like to thank you all SO MUCH for reading and for reviewing! - I don't have any other stories ready to go up just yet, but I hope to post more soon. Thanks again! I love you all.


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